Thomas Edgar (3): Into the Dark World's Fire

My previous post on Thomas ended in 1879, when, probably still the tenant of Down Hall Farm, he sold the Preston St Mary mill to one John Thomas Allen for £1,150. The writer from whom I took this information describes it as a 'tidy sum'[1] - and quite rightly so, as it's over £100,000 in modern terms, and much more than that if you do the calculation in one of the other possible ways. Of course, Thomas might not have been the sole owner of the windmill, but, however many siblings he had to split it with, as a tenant farmer with cash in the bank he was in a strong position, even though agriculture in Suffolk had been depressed since the early 1870s. He certainly doesn't seem like a man on the verge of financial disaster.

But when we reach the next available record, the Census of 1881, that's exactly what's happened.

That Census records the family living in Debenham Road, Stonham-Aspal - I'll put all the places Thomas lived after Preston St Mary in bold to bring out more clearly what happened to him and his family. Stonham is about 17 miles from Preston, to the east of Stowmarket. 

Google Maps

Thomas is a Farm Steward (Bailiff) and Harriet a Dairy Woman - a note adds 'Ag(ricultural). Lab(ourer).' - like most of the village's population.

Occupational Structure of Stonham Aspal at the time of Thomas and Harriet's Arrival
"1881 Occupational orders" by Afmoores - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

The children living with them are: Alice Louise, aged 4, Herbert Sidney 2, and Katie Mary. Baby Katie was born in Stonham Aspal and is only three weeks old; as her older brother Herbert was born in Preston, we have an idea of when Thomas moved: some time between Herbert's birth on October 5, 1878 and Katie's on (roughly) March 11, 1881.

The Ten Bells Inn was there in Thomas and Harriet's time

 "The Ten Bells Stonham Aspal - geograph.org.uk - 529965" by Keith Evans. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons - 

Further proof that Thomas had fallen on hard times, is that the same Census shows that his oldest child, Arthur Thomas, had been sent to live with his grandparents, the Worters, who farmed at Milden. (He was still there in 1901, when he'd risen to 'farm manager'.)

Thomas was now no longer a farmer but the bailiff on another man's farm. His wife was an ordinary agricultural labourer - like most British people before the modern age. And, as we shall see, both parents and children would take jobs completely typical of the era they lived in, one which still had one foot in that traditional rural world, the other on the rapidly changing terrain of modernity.

What had happened?

There is no documentary evidence to show the cause of Thomas's disaster, but his grandson Wilfred ('Bay') Edgar explained it to me thus:

I understood my paternal grand-father had been sold up the river by Lloyds before WW1 and the family dispersed.[2]

Although there is no documentary evidence to support the claim that Thomas was let down or even swindled by Lloyds Bank, it does account for the way in which a family that seemed to be doing well in 1879 had started to go into decline by 1881. If Bay is correct, then our branch of the Edgars left their small 'corridor' of Suffolk - from Combs to Preston - after more than 300 years of documented presence that was probably closer to twice that in fact - because of the actions of a bank.

Still, Thomas and Harriet didn't have to move far, and the position of farm bailiff was at least a responsible one - the fall from tenant farmer was real, but not precipitious. Sadly Thomas's problems were only just beginning.

There were clearly issues with the post at Stonham Aspal, as within two years, Thomas and Harriet had turned back south-east, over-shooting Preston St Mary, and ending up the other side of Lavenham. Stanley James Edgar was born in Great Waldingfield, about 5 miles south of Lavenham, on  March 3 1883. He was their fourth child - reader's of my previous post will know that Arthur Thomas Edgar was born on April 10, 1875, Alice Louise on September 12, 1876 and Herbert Sidney on October 5, 1878 - all during the Preston St Mary period.

Google Maps

One source claims that Thomas was in Great Waldingfield in 1882/1883 and that he was a farm bailiff there too. This seems plausible.

St Lawrence Church, Great Waldingfield: Thomas was a church warden in his first and last towns, so he almost certainly attended services (at least) here 

"St. Lawrence church, Great Waldingfield, Suffolk - geograph.org.uk - 151418" by Robert Edwards. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons - 

Next it was up north again, to Worlingworth, another ten miles beyond Stonham Aspal, but still in Suffolk. 

Google Maps 

Alice Louise and Herbert started at Worlingworth C. of E. Primary School on October 20, 1884. Kate joined them there on April 20, 1885. Their sister Annie Gertrude Edgar was born at Worlingworth, on July 23, 1885.

Then the family left Suffolk for the first time - although no further than neighbouring Essex. Wilfred Henry Edgar was born on May 28, 1888 in Tendring Essex.[3] When he joined the Essex Militia in 1904 - he was a gardener in Romford at the time - he gave Clacton as the parish of his birth.[4] Tendring is just over 7 miles inland to the north of Clacton. 

There were a number of farms in the Tendring area, so perhaps they worked there rather than in Clacton itself.

But they didn't stay there long. The next move took them back to Suffolk.

Herbert started at Wetherden County Primary School on November 4, 1889. 

Church of St Mary the Virgin, Wetherden

"Wetherden3" by DJIPhantom - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - 

 Wetherden is a tiny village 4 miles northwest of Stowmarket. 

Google Maps

Stanley and Katie Mary are also registered as having begun school on that date. The family were living at Rose Cottage. Herbert and Katie are said to have previously attended a school at Clacton-on-Sea,  But Stanley[5]  and Annie Gertrude, who started on March 17 1890, were also attending for the first time.[6] If the family were living in Tendring, as I suspect, it must have been a long, tiring day for Herbert and Katie as it's 8.5 miles from Clacton by road.

It wasn't long before the family moved yet again.

Frederick Johnson Edgar was born on 16 October 1890[7] at Woodbridge, Suffolk. Woodbridge is just under 3 miles from Great Bealing(s), which is where the family are recorded as living in 1891.[8]  

"GreatBealingsSign" by Phil Holmes at the English language Wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - 

Great Bealing(s) is in the south of the county, just 6 miles from Ipswich - the base area of the richest branch of the Edgar family! 

From the 1891 Census we learn that Thomas had fallen still further down the social scale: he had now dropped from the managerial role of bailiff to a mere 'agricultural labourer'. Harriet it seems wasn't working, but Herbert was a farm worker like his father.

It's pretty clear why Thomas has been  moving so often: since losing his farm tenancy, he's failed to find a niche in the job market. And socially he's moved downward, and there's not much further to go - but his next move, to the border with Cambridgeshire, must have offered him some hope that the bad times were coming to an end.

The couple's last child, Thomas John was born on April 17, 1894, in Gazeley, Suffolk and baptised in All Saints Church on May 13. The Baptismal record tells us that his father was a bailiff living in that village. If that's true then he had managed to claw back some of his social position and rise again from the role of mere labourer. If so, it was be a prelude to a fall to a position close to the bottom of the class structure.

Some time before the next Census the family moved back to Essex.

In 1901 they are living at Curter Hint Green, Stapleford Abbots, Ongar, Essex, England just over 4 miles north of Romford and Thomas is still an agricultural labourer. The family now consists of Kate, Stanley, Anne, Wilfred, Frederick, Thomas. Stanley is a postman. Wilfred joined the Militia as a reservist in 1904 and his Attestation form has him working as a gardener for a Mr. Webb of Romford and living at Chigwell four miles from Stapleford Abbots. 

Thomas was 58 and he'd lived in Preston St Mary until about 1880. In the succeeding twenty years he'd had seven homes. Our branch of the Edgars had left their ancestral villages of Combs and Preston for good. They were now in the dark world's fire: a  rapidly urbanising and industrializing society, an unforgiving jobs market that, for at least two of Thomas's children, would include the territories of the British Empire, and no welfare 'cushion' for the sick, the old or the unlucky. Furthermore, a brutal war, on a scale new in human history, was already visible on the horizon; four of Thomas and Harriet's sons would fight in France, and one would not return.

But at least the couple had found a secure home before that conflict began. It would take two more moves to do it. And the first would see a new social humiliation for a man who began life as the son of a comfortably off tenant farmer.

Geographically Stanford Rivers is not too far from Stapleford Abbots but socially Thomas has dropped below the position of labourer he held there, and Harriet is recorded as working for the first time.

The 1911 Census - the last to be currently available - has Thomas, Harriet, Wilfred and Thomas Jr. listed in the household of Horace S. Palmer, a 22 year old farmer of Stewarts Farm, Toot Hill, Ongar, Stanford Rivers, Essex, 

Parish Church, Stanford Rivers

"Parish Church, Stanford Rivers, Essex - geograph.org.uk - 79855" by John Winfield. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons 

Thomas and Harriet are both listed as servants (housekeepers), Wilfred and young Thomas are both unmarried, Wilfred's a reservist in the militia, Thomas a shop assistant.[9] 

In pre-modern times - already largely over by 1911 - most working class English women were domestic servants. Thomas was now presumably too old at 68 for the heavy labour of the fields, so he too was working in service. One might speculate that he was employed as an adjunct to his younger (59) wife. There's really only one step further down now, and Thomas and Harriet must have dreaded it: it's hard for those of us lucky enough to have been born in Britain after WW11 to remember the terror of our ancestors when faced with the thought they might end their lives in the workhouse. In a future post I'll tell the story of an Edgar (a relation, but not on the direct line) who spent several years in one of these dreadful places with her children. But happily Thomas and Harriet avoided this fate.

Ongar Union Workhouse where the poor of Stanford Rivers were sent

Image: Blackmore Area Local History

http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/stanford-rivers-ongar-union-workhouse.html

There was one last journey that I've been able to find so far although when they made it is uncertain.

The couple moved to 1, Mount Road, Theydon Garnon...



...a village about 3.5 miles from Epping,[10] 

Google Maps

While here Thomas became a churchwarden again.[11] According to the letter from Bay Edgar, cited above, the couple lived in a 'grace and favour' home (leased rent free to deserving citizens by the monarch or a charity) suggesting money was still short (although one online estate agent estimates its current value as in excess of £1.6 million![12]).

He had probably moved before September 1,1913, because on that day at Theydon Garnon Parish Church, he signed the marriage certificate of his daughter Katie Mary - 'spinster' of that parish - who was marrying Joseph Love, an engineer (according to Bay with shipbuilders Harland and Wolf). However, Herbert's army pension record from 1914 has a handwritten note saying that his father (and younger brother Stanley) were living in Stapleford Abbots, which suggests that he might not have kept up-to-date with his parents location - or that perhaps Katie had gone to Theydon Garnon before her father, but I don't think that's very likely.

All Saints Church Theydon Garnon where Katie Edgar was married on September 1, 1913 

Image: John Salmon, Wikipedia

On April 11, 1920, Thomas, in his capacity as churchwarden, assisted at the unveiling of a memorial at All Saints to those who'd died in the war.

On it was the name of his son Thomas John:

Image: Blackmore Area Local History, http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/theydon-garnon-war-memorial.html

Harriet died later in  the year - on November 11 -  and Thomas on November 27, 1929, both in the Epping District, probably in Theydon Garnon.  Probate on Harriet's effects - £367 5s. - was granted to Thomas, described as a 'farm bailiff'. Probate for Thomas was given to  Stanley James, at that time a grocer; the effects were £442 9s and 3d. This has about £24,000 purchasing value in 2014 terms - much more if you calculate by other methods. A relatively humble sum, perhaps, but enough to suggest a modest recovery of fortune from the days as an agricultural labourer or in domestic service.

In my next post I'll examine the fate of Thomas and Harriet's children - expelled from the family domain and eventually scattered all over the world.

---

[1] http://www.suffolkmills.org.uk/newsletters/072%20November%201998.pdf

[2] Bay Edgar, undated letter to Brian Edgar.

[3]http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fb%2f1888%2f3%2faz%2f000164&parentid=bmd%2fb%2f1888%2f3%2faz%2f000164%2f301&highlights=%22%22

[4]http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbm%2fwo96%2f0762%2f112%2f001&parentid=gbm%2fwo96%2f762%2f1419112&highlights=%22%22

[5]http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbor%2fschool%2fsuffolk%2fa2703_3%2f0073&parentid=gbor%2fschool%2fa27033%2f692015&highlights=%22%22; http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbor%2fschool%2fsuffolk%2fa2703_3%2f0076&parentid=gbor%2fschool%2fa27033%2f692123

[6]http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbor%2fschool%2fsuffolk%2fa2703_3%2f0073&parentid=gbor%2fschool%2fa27033%2f692015&highlights=%22%22

[7]http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fb%2f1890%2f4%2faz%2f000156&parentid=bmd%2fb%2f1890%2f4%2faz%2f000156%2f276&highlights=%22%22

[8] http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbc%2f1891%2f1474%2f0149&parentid=gbc%2f1891%2f0010796255

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stapleford_Abbotts

[10] http://www.everymanremembered.org/profiles/soldier/1752685/

[11] http://www.hellfirecorner.co.uk/duffell2.htm

[12] https://www.houser.co.uk/1,-mount-road-cottages,-mount-road,-theydon-garnon,-epping-cm16-7ph-p25929367

Thomas Edgar (2): The 1870s

Johnson Edgar, the tenant of Down Hall Farm and the owner of the windmill at Preston St. Mary, died in 1872, leaving behind him his wife Sarah and four boys (plus one girl, assuming Sophia was still alive).

My great-grandfather Thomas, described as a farmer of Preston, was one of the executors, and he proved Johnson's will, which included effects of less than £1000.[1] This might be proof that Johnson's position was shaky in his last years, but, as we shall see later, there's evidence against this hypothesis, and perhaps he had just arranged his affairs to avoid what we now call inheritance tax - it might be significant that in 1881 a law was passed to prevent the obvious dodge of making gifts to your heirs while you were still alive.[2]

Who inherited or took over the lease on Down Hall Farm on Johnson's death? Perhaps it was the eldest son, John, because when he himself died two years later (1874) the death was registered in the Cosford District, which includes Preston, not in Stowmarket where he was working as a miller in 1871.  I shall provide evidence below that proves that Thomas was in possession of the lease on Down Hall soon after John's death - so if it was John who took it over in 1872 it went out of his branch.

A macabre incident of 1873 shows there was a 'Mr. Edgar' employing labour at Preston St Mary in that year, but unfortunately doesn't tell us if it was Thomas or John.

In the February of that year, one Daniel Lambert, returning home from his work at Mr. Edgar of Preston's heard a 'melancholy cry' from the bottom of an embankment close to Lavenham Station.  

"Lavenham Railway Station" by Steven Duhig from Bowie, Maryland, USA - Lavenham Railway StationUploaded by oxyman. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons 

Lambert and another man went to investigate and found It was from George Eary, a nineteen year old who had to try to get a free ride by hiding in a pig truck attached to the open cattle truck of the Bury-Colchester train. As he jumped out, he fell with his right foot on the rail and the train ran over his leg and  smashed it to pieces. He died in spite of an amputation by Mr. Barkway, surgeon.[3]

Another court case - this one in early 1874 - also fails to tell us for certain which Edgar was at Down Hall Farm.

On January 16 1874 William Howe, a labourer of Lavenham, was found guilty of trespassing in search of rabbits on the land of 'Mr. Edgar of Preston' on December 23.  Ruffel Spraggous (sic) deposed that he'd seen the accused in a field and when he approached he'd started to dismantle his gun. He seems to have been interested in poaching partridges as well. Thomas Edgar 'had the shooting' and had asked to look out for him. Howe said in his defence he had a family of 12 and no work (his record on Ancestry shows that if he was exaggerating the size of his family to win the sympathy of the court, he wasn't doing so by very much.) He was fined 7s. with 7s. costs or two weeks jail. Howe's son was found guilty of poaching on Spraggous's own land on the 20th. December.[4] Does this mean John was 'Mr. Edgar,' who leased the farm while Thomas had the shooting licence? (In a previous post we saw Thomas's interest in shooting.) Or are the two Edgars one, both in fact Thomas, who leased the land and had the shooting? And, although it's a reasonable assumption that the land on which Howe was attempting to carry out his poaching was Down Hall Farm, this isn't actually stated in the report.

But six months later there's no further doubt: when Thomas married on June 30, 1874 he was described as 'of Down Hall'. John died in the April-June quarter of that year, and it may or not be a coincidence that Thomas married soon after. The bride, Harriet Ann, the second daughter of Mr. Thomas Worters, [5] was from Milden, so the wedding was held there, presumably at this church:

"St Peter's Church, Milden - geograph.org.uk - 724655" by Andrew Hill. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons 

Two months later, Harriet was pregnant. Thomas was just over 30, his wife was 22.

But country life went on around them, and before they could welcome their first child, they had to suffer another foul incursion on the Edgar lands.

On January 19, 1875 Alfred Snell was accused of trespassing in search of rabbits on 'land in the occupation of Mr. Thos. Edgar of Preston'. William Turner, a gamekeeper of Brent Eleigh had seen him and his dog get over the fence from 'Mr. Root's stubble field'. Snell denied everything, including ownership of the dog, but was fined 10s plus 7s cost or 14 days in prison.[6]

Arthur Thomas Edgar was born on April 10, 1875 into a hopefully peaceful and crime-free Preston St Mary.

The next year gives us the first glimpse of something that -whenever its started - was to remain with Thomas for the rest of his life. On Friday October 22, 1876, Thomas, attended a conference convened by the Lord Bishop of Ely in the Athenaeum Lecture Hall, Bury St Edmunds.[7] 

Image: http://athenaeumbse.co.uk/about-the-athenaeum/

He was there in his capacity as a churchwarden, and, as we shall see, he occupied the same position in the Essex village where, after many wanderings, he ended his days.

The family continued to grow. Alice Louise was born on 12 September, 1876 at Preston, and my grandfather Herbert Sidney in 1878 - he was registered in the district of Cosford,[8] so he too was presumably born in Preston, and most likely at Down Hall Farm.[9]

Herbert Sidney Edgar in Vansittart Road, Windsor

In between these births - on February 4, 1877 - Thomas's uncle Johnson (not to be confused with his late father of that name) died at Down Hall Farm.[10] For about 30 years this farm had been central to the life of the extended family of our branch of the Edgars. But it wouldn't be long before it passed out of our hands.

Parts of Down Hall farmhouse date back to the fourteenth century - this is a detail from some recent repair work: http://www.traditionaloakcarpentry.co.uk/projects-repair-down-hall.php

In June 1878 the freehold of Down Hall Farm came up for sale by auction. Four lots were offered, and it's not clear how much of the land and buildings thereon was being farmed by Thomas at the time; lot 3 was described as 'Down Hall Farm' and that had just under 75 acres but the whole thing was 172 acres of 'very fertile...agricultural land'. with a farm house, agricultural buildings, double cottage and off-hand farm premises.[11] As Johnson Edgar was described in the 1871 Census as farming 172 acres, I think that Thomas's lease was probably for that area too. I don't know who bought the farm and I can't be sure that whoever it was allowed Thomas to stay on as tenant, but I think he probably did for a reason that will soon become clear.

Before 1878 was over, Thomas had lost his mother. Sarah Edgar died aged 90 on November 11 - described in the typical phrase of the time as the 'relict' (widow) of Johnson Edgar of Down Hall.[12]

What makes me think that the Edgars were still at Down Hall - which was probably where Sarah died - is the fact that in 1879, Thomas, described as a farmer of Lavenham, sold the Preston mill to one John Thomas Allen for £1,150. For the earlier history of what the historian of Suffolk windmills has described as a 'fine' tower mill,[13] see http://edgarfamilyintheworldblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/the-wealth-of-edgars-johnson-and-his.html

The 1881 Census has John Allen, a miller and corn merchant, living in Mill Road, Preston. The mill continued in service until about 1919 and was pulled down in 1928. [14]

This suggests that by 1879 Thomas had the lease of a farm - almost certainly Down Hall - and that by direct inheritance from Johnson in 1872 or later through John's family - he had also acquired the family mill. The fact that he sold it for a sum worth, however conservatively you do the calculation, over £100,000 in today's values, suggests that Johnson's will (see above) might not have represented his true wealth..

And Thomas's windfall makes what happens next amazing.

---

[1] England and Wales National Probate Calendar.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inheritance_Tax_(United_Kingdom)

[3] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, February 18, 1873; pg. 5

[4] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, January 20, 1874; pg. 5;

[5] The Ipswich Journal, Saturday July 4, 1874.

[6] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, January 19, 1875; pg. 8;

[7] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, October 26, 1875; pg. 3;

[8] http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fb%2f1878%2f4%2faz%2f000168%2f323

[9] http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/cosford.html

[10] Bury etc. Tuesday, February 13, 1887, 5.

[11] Ipswich Journal, June 1, 1878.

[12] The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Saturday, November 16, 1878

[13] Boydell, 1979, 72

[14] http://www.suffolkmills.org.uk/newsletters/072%20November%201998.pdf, page 4.

Thomas Edgar: (1) Growing Up in a Suffolk Village

Note: The village now known as Preston St Mary was called simply Preston until 1957. Confusingly 'Preston St Mary' was part of the Lancashire city we now think of when someone says 'Preston', although sometimes the Suffolk village appears as Preston (St Mary) - so Googlers need to be careful! In any case, I use both forms and no-one in any post so far has come from or gone to Lancashire.

Up until his father Johnson's death in 1872, the records as I have them suggest Thomas lived a not unusual life of the son of a prosperous tenant farmer. Basically he had some schooling, shot game, and helped on the farm - almost certainly on a part-time basis as a child, and then full-time when he was able.

The setting for his early life was Down Hall Farm, which Johnson and Sarah probably began to rent sometime between 1843 and 1851. Today the farmhouse is a Grade 11 Listed Building; here's the citation:

PRESTON ST MARY BRETTENHAM ROAD 1. 5377 Down Hall TL 95 SW 32/914 23.1.58 II 2 A 16 century-17 century timber-framed and plastered building with a cross wing at the north end. Roof tiled. The primary block is one storey and attics and the cross wing is 2 storeyed with a jettied upper storey on the front. Modern casement windows. Three gabled dormers on the front.[1]

What of the village in which the farm was situated? This is one writer's impression of the area today:

I love this part of Suffolk. It is intensely agricultural, and the narrow lanes seem to meander lazily, although they are no doubt reacting to long lost field and settlement patterns. Preston is a pretty village, with the same feeling of remoteness as its neighbours Thorpe Morieux and Kettlebaston.[2]

As readers of a former post will know, Johnson farmed land in Thorpe Morieux as well as Preston before (and perhaps after) moving into Down Hall, and his wife, Sarah Makin, came from Kettlebaston.

To complete the apparently idyllic scene the River Brett flows through the north eastern part of the village.

The three most important buildings are the Preston Hall - manor house - the pub and the church.

 

Preston Hall, A 16/17 Century Residence
"Preston Hall - geograph.org.uk - 277721" by Robert Edwards. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The pub is named after the fine 'six bells' of the church (see below). It was almost certainly the 'local' of many generations of Edgars:

 The Six Bells, Today

"'The Six Bells' inn, Preston St. Mary, Suffolk - geograph.org.uk - 183264" by Robert Edwards. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons

The church itself stands at the eastern end of the village:

Church of St Mary the Virgin

This and next image from:
https://lavenhamchurch.wordpress.com/preston-st-mary/

It still attracts visitors from around the world because of it extremely rare Decalogue ((ten commandments)) and Royal Arms boards.[3]

If you visit it today you'll see what is mostly a different building to young Thomas: in one of the most dramatic events in an area that might seemed ignored by drama, on the afternoon of Thursday April 23, the church tower - a fine perpendicular structure between 70 and 80 feet high -  collapsed, and the church became 'ruinous'.[4] It had been in a parlous state since being bodged together more than a century before when it had been struck by lighting (on August 24, 1758 to be exact). [5] The authorities had begun work on the staircase, whose rebuilding was urgent, because it's ascent had long been difficult and dangerous because many of the steps had been worn through. They'd made an opening in the steeple near its junction with the nave on the south side ready for a new stairway - a fatal mistake! The mortar had lost all holding power and as soon as the breach was made the upper part of the steeple began to crack 'in a mist alarming manner'.[6] A strong iron girdle had been fixed around the parapet thirty years before in response to previous cracks, but this couldn't withstand the new strains. Most of the east wall of the tower fell, as did some of the south wall, destroying part of the roof of the nave and burying the gallery and the organ. Happily the famous 'six bells' were unharmed - although hanging precariously in the ruins. [7]There were worries about the future of the rest of the tower, but the inhabitants looked in the bright side and considered the collapse 'providential' - what if it had fallen on the previous Sunday? And only a few minutes before the respected churchwardens, Messrs. King and Wright and 'Mr. Gayford of the Hall', had been standing in the danger zone; but they'd gone somewhere else thanks to 'the merciful interposition of Providence'.[8] However, a different newspaper's account makes it clear that they'd noticed mortar falling around them and left the church hastily at that point.[9]

St Mary's was restored through voluntary contributions in 1868. Only the porch and nave walls survive from before this date to remind us of the fine (but precarious) building Thomas grew up with. [10]

The local 'metropolis' was Lavenham, about two and half miles to the south west; the small town still ha some of the best preserved mediaeval buildings in the country. On August 9,1865 the town acquired a brick-built railway station (on the Long Melford-Bury St Edmunds branch line). Elsewhere the railways were transforming local economies, and there were some hopes that this would be the case in the Lavenham distrust, but they came to nothing. By 1901 Preston's population had actually fallen.[11]

It was small enough to start with. In 1851 there were only 74 inhabited houses in Preston; 386 people lived in them.  In 1844, the year after Thomas's birth, there were  9 farmers, 2 corn millers, blacksmith, wheelwright, and a shoe– maker.[12] In 1863 there was a chemist - one H. Armstrong of 8, Church Street, who could be relied on for stocks of the 'surprisingly' efficacious Dr. Locock's pulmonic wafers.[13] In any case, Thomas was coming into a family that had some weight in this tiny community: Johnson was one of the farmers and his son John was one of the millers. In 1868 one William Makin was owner of one of the four manors in the district,[14] so Sarah probably had important relatives - although other 'Makins' were humble farm labourers, so this might not have meant very much.

The index to the register of birth, marriages and Deaths shows that his birth was registered in the first quarter of 1843.  The 1851 Census has him an eight year old schoolboy, living at Down Hall Farm with his family. Johnson farms 270 acres and employs ten labourers. His mother, Sarah, has the help of a servant, Susan Manning, aged 17. His brothers Edmund (28) and Richard (19) are both at home and helping on the farm. In the year of his birth the Church of England built a 'National' School in the village, and this was presumably the one Thomas attended. Ten years before there was a Sunday School with 50 pupils, and if it was still running it's possible he was made to go there too.

Thomas was granted a Game Certificate for 1858 -  a 'general' one for £4. 0s.10d. That was expensive, but without it anyone 'taking, killing or pursuing' game was liable for a £20 fine plus double the Certificate duty.[15] As we shall see in the next post, Thomas's game shooting will give us some clues as to the state of the family in the 1870s.

In the 1861 Census things are pretty much the same at Down Hall Farm, except that Richard has left home (to become a malster), the servant is now Emily Pulson (sic) and she's described as a 'dairy' not a 'house' servant. And Thomas has a niece living with him - Sophia, aged 6.

In 1865 Thomas was elected to Lavenham Farmer's Club - alongside Lord A. Harvey, M.P. -  at their annual dinner. The Secretary pro. tem. ('for the moment') was Rober Edgar.[16] I suspect Robert, who was born in c.1834 and farmed in nearby Thorpe Morieux, was from another branch of our family.

What shape was the family in as Johnson, born in c. 1792, lived his last years? We get indirect evidence from a letter from a hunting enthusiast in a local newspaper. In January 1869 a red deer was pursued by hands for over an hour until it was caught on or near 'an off-hand farm of Mr Edgar's, of Preston'.[17] An off-hand farm is one which the owner doesn't farm himself but puts in a working bailiff. This seems proof of Johnson' continuing prosperity. In  his final sense - 1871 - Thomas's father is 78 and just one year from his death. Sarah is 8 years younger, there's a new servant (Annie Pearl). Thomas - 28 and unmarried - is the only son left  at home and he's got a nephew with him at Down Hall Farm: Richard's son Harry J. Wright Edgar is living with the family.

Johnson is described as 'farmer and owner employing 6 men'. He's only a tenant at Down Hall Farm, but he still owns the land he bought and the mill he bought on it in the middle of the 1840s. In 1861 he was employing 7 labourers and two boys on his 300 acres. I doubt the fall in the number of employees means very much. In nay case, Johnson's son (and Thomas's older brother) Edmund is at Hill Farm in Preston, working 152 acres and employing 5 men and two boys. The family's economic situation looks pretty good on the eve of Johnson's death.

In my next post I'll consider the situation between Johnson's death in 1872 and the disaster that struck the family around the turn of the decade.

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[1] http://www.sevenspots.co.uk/building/down-hall-preston-st-mary/

[2] http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/preston.html

[3] https://lavenhamchurch.wordpress.com/preston-st-mary/

[4] http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/7606

[5] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, April 28, 1863; pg. 7.

[6] The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Saturday, May 2, 1863.

[7] The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Saturday, May 2, 1863.

[8] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, April 28, 1863; pg. 7.

[9] The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Saturday, May 2, 1863.

[10] http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/preston.html

[11] https://heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/Data/Sites/1/media/parish-histories/preston_st_mary.pdf

[12] https://heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/Data/Sites/1/media/parish-histories/preston_st_mary.pdf

[13] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, December 15, 1863; pg. 3

[14] http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SFK/Preston/

[15] The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Saturday, October 2, 1858; Issue 6230.

[16] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, October 31, 1865; pg. 7

[17] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, January 19, 1869.

Sophia Edgar: More Speculation Than Fact

I'm afraid much of this post is mystery and confusion. Let's start with what seems firmly established.

Sophia was Johnson and Sarah's only daughter. I can't find a birth certificate but in the 1841 Census she's listed as 15, the same age as her brother Henry - John and Edmund are both given as 20, which suggests either a busy reproductive schedule or an indifference to exactitude when giving the ages of the children to the Census-taker.

In 1848 an entry in the register shows that Sophia married James Westrop of Lavenham, a small town close to Sophia's home village of Preston St Mary, with some of the best-preserved mediaeval buildings in the country:

The Old Wool Hall, Lavenham

"The Old Wool Hall - Lavenham - geograph.org.uk - 1546706" by Mick Lobb. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons.

James was born in 1810.[1] Their daughter Ann was born in 1849 and died in the next year aged 8 months. She was buried on May 11 at Preston St Mary.[2]

That's about it as far as clarity goes.

I suspect that Sophia died in the next 11 years. But when? Well, I can't find any sign of her or James in the 1851 Census so there's no clue there. In the 1861 Census a widower, James Westrop, born in Lavenham, is recorded living St Pancras, London looked after by his unmarried sister Ann (his 'housekeeper'). This James is a retired draper. His age is transcribed (by Ancestry.com) as 50, which ties in with the James who married Sophia - but it might as well be 60 - the '0' is clear but not the first digit. This James died on May 1863 and probate for effects less than £100 was granted to Ann.[3] One genealogist on Ancestry.com merges this figure with a James Westrop who married in St Dunstan in the West, London in 1836 - but this James Westrop was born in Essex. On the other hand, the James born in Lavenham in 1810 doesn't seem to have a sister Anne. But then again I can't find any James born in Lavenham who DID have a sister Ann.

To add to the confusion: in the 1891 Census the man who's called James Edgar in 1881 is called James Westrope (sic) Edgar. There were a lot of Westrops in Suffolk, but James didn't marry one: in 1884 he united with Elvina Burrows.[4]

And probably irrelevantly a 'Sophia Edgar' aged 6 turns up in Johnson's household in 1861. She's listed as 'granddaughter' and her birth was registered in 1855 in Thingoe (Bury St Edmunds, where Richard was malting). Her father is unknown, but perhaps she was named in honour of a dead sister?

At this point the researcher throws his hands in the air and hopes for a lucky break in the future.

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[1] http://historyofsuffolk.co.uk/cosford/lavenham/d295.html#P10006

[2] http://historyofsuffolk.co.uk/cosford/preston/d54.html

[3] Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.

[4] FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

The Many Lives of Richard Edgar

Up until 1871 Richard's progress through the documents is not an unusual one.

There's no birth certificate - registration wasn't compulsory at the time - but in the 1841 Census he's listed as fourth  and then youngest child of Johnson and Sarah and his age is given as ten, so he was born in about 1831. In 1851 he's given as 19 and his employment is the same as his older brother Edmund's - this is almost illegible but it certainly begins 'farmer' and my guess is that what follows is something like 'employed on father's farm'.

In 1860 Richard married Sarah Elizabeth Wright of Bury St Edmunds and the Census of 1861 finds them living in Bury, Richard 29 and Sarah 19 - so she was born in about 1842.

Guildhall, Bury St Edmunds
"Bury St Edmunds - The Guildhall" by Keith Evans. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bury_St_Edmunds_-_

He's now a 'malster and merchant'. Once again Wikipedia comes to the rescue of those of us who don't know as much about nineteenth century Edgar working practises as we should:

Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water, and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.[1]

What's the point of that then? Well:

Malted grain is used to make beer; whisky; malted shakes; malt vinegar....(and stuff like Maltesers -the chocolate with the less fattening centre - that Richard never dreamt were possible).

Bury is still a centre for malting and brewing, so Richard's malted barley presumably ended up as beer.

Barley on the floor of a traditional malthouse
"Highland park malting floor" by Lakeworther - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

The family is living at 85-88 Risbygate Street and next door in the Malster's Cottage is another malster and his family. I think this enables us to take a good guess as to where Richard did his work:


Malthouse Project
Copyright Oast House Archives, licensed for re-use under a Creative Commons License:
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1444197

The Malthouse Project is based in  converted seventeenth century malt house in Risbygate Street, so the original building must be a candidate for Richard's workplace.

So far so good. Richard starts off on the family farm (probably), learns a useful trade, marries and raises a family. The evidence of the 1881 Census entry for Sarah's household and of birth registers enables us to reconstruct their children at the time of the 1871 Census, all born in Bury St Edmunds: Walter Rossiter, born in the first quarter of 1873,  Alice Mary born in the first quarter of 1867 and Frederick William, born in early 1870. But I think that they also had a son in 1866 or thereabouts: Harry James Wright Edgar. I'll explain why I think this in a moment.

In the 1871 Census Richard, still a malster, is recorded as a visitor at his brother Edmund's Hill Farm in Preston St Mary - which means he spent the night of April 2 there. There's nothing necessarily strange about that, nor about the fact that I can find no sign of Sarah or the children Walter, Alice and Frederic in the 1871 Census. Such absences are not that uncommon and can be caused, for example, by faulty modern search engines, illegible Census-taker handwriting or gaps in the records. But then there's another Census entry that suggests the possibility of a family problem: Harry J(ames) Wright Edgar, aged 5 turns up with his grandfather Johnson Edgar at Down Hall Farm. The family trees on Ancestry.com are split as to Harry[2]: one tree has him as Thomas's child (which would make him a part of our branch of the Edgars) but I think the other trees[3] are correct and that he's the son of Richard and Sarah come to live with his grandfather at Down Hall Farm. My evidence for this is twofold: firstly the middle name 'Wright' - that was Sarah's maiden name. Secondly, in the 1911 Census he's recorded boarding with his 'brother' Frederick William.

Harry's presence at Down Hall Farm might mean financial or marital problems for his family, or they might mean nothing of the sort. Johnson was prosperous, he no longer had a young family, and he might have been doing no more than giving a favourite grandchild a comfortable home

If there was a marital problem in 1871, it was presumably temporary, as Richard and Sarah's son, William (not to be confused with Frederick William) had his birth registered in the first quarter of 1873. Further indication that the couple were still together in 1873 is a record that shows that Walter Rossiter Edgar entered the Guildhall Feoffment school (Bury St Edmunds) in 1873 - his father's name was given as Richard (the family's address was in Chalk Lane.[4]

But now we must pursue the rather surprising course of Richard's progress through the post 1873 documents.

First of all, he vanishes. The man who's been making malt in Suffolk and getting about ten years older every time a decennial census was taken disappears from the records.

But in 1881 a Richard Edgar - the second - also a malster and born in Preston St Mary, shows up in Roath, Glamorgan married to a woman called Charlotte. She's 30, born in Newport (Wales) and works as a seamstress.


Newport, South Wales
"Newport UK location map" by Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

This can't be OUR Richard can it? When we last saw him ten years ago he was 'married'- that was recorded in the relevant column - and we know his wife was Sarah. Divorce papers aren't available online and I've found no certificate of his marriage to Charlotte. But lots of people have claimed, in hotel registers, ships manifests and all other sorts of documents as well as census forms, to be married when they're not, so it's not this that means he can't be OUR Richard - look at the age. He's 40, which would be a pretty impressive achievement for a man born in 1831/32.

In 1891 Richard Edgar - the third -  also lives in Wales but at a new location and with a different profession. He's a caretaker living in Cardiff. He and Charlotte still have no children - just a visitor. But here's an amazing thing: Richard is now 58, having aged 18 years since the last census. Charlotte is 41, so her aging process has remained more or less normal.

In 1901 the two Welsh Richard Edgars have done a vanishing act, just like their Suffolk predecessor. But there's still a Richard Edgar - the fourth; he's a barman at a pub, visiting friends in Birmingham with - Charlotte Edgar. The friends are the Williams family, so there does seem a possible Welsh connection even though these Williamses weren't born there. How old is this Richard you might well be asking?  He's aged 54, which makes him four years younger than the second Welsh Richard Edgar was ten years ago and about 16 years younger than the Bury St Edmunds Richard Edgar would have been. And another interesting point: the first three Richard Edgars were all born in Suffolk, and this fourth Richard also had an eastern counties origin - in his case in Norfolk. And Charlotte, whose now 48 so her aging seems as erratic as her husband's, also has a different but similar birthplace: the first Charlotte (who was with the second and third Richards) was born in Newport, while the second Charlotte (with the fourth Richard) saw the light of day in Newtown, which is still in Wales but about 70 miles away.

Newtown, central Wales
"Powys UK location map" by Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

Confused? I think you're meant to be. For a start, Richard (if all these four incarnations are in fact the same man) is the only case I've yet come across of someone who was away from home on more than one Census day. The first time doesn't seem of any obvious significance, but the second time - and considering they both give wrong birth places yet seem compelled to keep some element of truth - well, it's almost like he and Charlotte don't want people to know where they are.

But things don't finish with the 1901 Census. There's a fifth Richard Edgar.

This one died in Birmingham aged 62 in the last quarter of 1904 - remember that the fourth Richard Edgar was in Birmingham three years earlier but apparently eight years younger.

While all this was going on (irrelevantly if you think that the Richard Edgar in our family simply disappears from the records after 1873) what's happening to Sarah Elizabeth and her children? That, as the saying goes, is another story.

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malt

[2] http://person.ancestry.co.uk/tree/60181970/person/30109594330/facts

[3] e.g. http://person.ancestry.co.uk/tree/16798471/person/18593884912/facts; http://person.ancestry.co.uk/tree/21782483/person/1136302178/facts

[4] National School Admission Registers & Log Books 1870-1914.